


Dressing Down

by ChameleonCircuit



Category: Station 19 (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Mild Angst, hughley - Freeform, vicley - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 07:27:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16698034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChameleonCircuit/pseuds/ChameleonCircuit
Summary: “You could have died!” He shouted over her, slamming his palms down on his desk in a way that had to have hurt.His words seemed to bounce off the walls, reverberating in the small space around them, and for a moment all Vic could do was stare as Ripley’s chest heaved, expression somehow full of rage and fear all at once.A sense of indignation rose within her, burning hot as she took a deep breath, puffing her chest out, ready to shout back, to argue, but the slight tremor in his hands as he smoothed down the front of his shirt doused the flames, and she felt herself deflate a little.“But I didn’t?” She offered weakly, suddenly itching to close the distance between them.





	Dressing Down

**Author's Note:**

  * For [keraunoscopia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/keraunoscopia/gifts).



> Thank you to barbaesparza for helping with the ending and the title, and for acting as beta xxx
> 
> http://sofuckingchuffed.tumblr.com/post/180354847652/what-you-did-was-stupid-vicley

Vic was beaming, still somewhat breathless from adrenaline as she made her way to Ripley’s office. The thrill of having done something incredible, of having saved lives, was still buzzing through her veins, and it took every ounce of willpower she had not to literally skip down the hall. **  
**

She could picture Ripley in his office waiting for her, looking poised and professional aside from the slight tell-tale quirk of his lips, the smirk he wouldn’t let her properly see until the door was locked and his hands were on her hips and they could be Vic and Lucas, not Hughes and Chief Ripley.

Because she’d seen the way he’d looked at her when she’d glanced at him before surging back into that building, completely against Sullivan’s orders, but completely in the way he’d known she would. She’d seen the way his hand twitched, almost reaching for her, before she’d gone. And she’d seen the way he looked at her afterward, too, somewhat dizzy with relief to see her again, eyes never leaving her until he had to return to his office.

So she knew what was waiting for her on the other side of the door as the backs of her knuckles tapped the wood, and the need, the want coursing through her stopped her from feeling the sting she ought to have felt, skin singed from her close call.

“Come in,” Ripley muttered, voice gruff, and she tried to school her expression, tried to play nonchalant as she opened the door.

“Chief,” she greeted, lingering.

“Close the door,” he said without looking up from his papers, and her stomach fluttered with anticipation as she obeyed.

She paused for a moment, hand on the door handle, unsure whether it would be too bold to assume and lock the door without being asked. She’d been the one to call the shots so far, but something felt different here, in his office, like maybe she should await instruction instead of surging forward with little to no thought.

She took a deep breath before flicking the lock and turning towards him. It was the sound of the lock clicking that brought his gaze up to hers for just a second, expression still surprisingly neutral, before he looked back down, and the lack of his tell-tale smirk had her butterflies turning from excitement to nerves.

“That was a pretty good save today, huh?” she offered, flashing him a smile as she leaned against the back of the chair opposite him.

“Luck,” Ripley said quietly, still not looking at her, though he shuffled his papers and made to stand. “It was pure luck.”

“Yeah,” she conceded with a laugh, trying to bury her confusion, “but it was still pretty awesome.”

“What you did was stupid. Worse, it was reckless.” His voice was rising in both pitch and volume, and yet still, he wouldn’t look at her.

“What?”

“You disobeyed a direct order.” He glanced at her as he stood, and she saw fire in his eyes, a kind if fight she’d never seen in him before.

“Since when has that ever—“

“You could have died!” He shouted over her, slamming his palms down on his desk in a way that had to have hurt.

His words seemed to bounce off the walls, reverberating in the small space around them, and for a moment all Vic could do was stare as Ripley’s chest heaved, expression somehow full of rage and fear all at once.

A sense of indignation rose within her, burning hot as she took a deep breath, puffing her chest out, ready to shout back, to argue, but the slight tremor in his hands as he smoothed down the front of his shirt doused the flames, and she felt herself deflate a little.

“But I didn’t?” She offered weakly, suddenly itching to close the distance between them.

“But you could have,” he said, voice much quieter now, and sounding much more broken for it. “How do you think 19 would have felt, how Sullivan would have felt, if you’d died on their watch? How do you think—”

He broke off with a shuddering breath, dipping his head for a moment, before looking at her again with a renewed sense of determination.

“I’m suspending you.”

“What?”

“One week.”

“Like hell you are,” she shouted, half coming around the desk towards him, fight returning in full force. “I did the right thing and you know it.”

“You disobeyed a direct order from your captain,” Ripley hissed, anger winning out again as he turned towards her, and for the first time since she’d met him, Vic felt small in comparison.

“Don’t do this,” she warned, voice thick as her throat tightened, and it was shame that welled up inside her then, the unexpected swell of emotion catching her off-guard.

Ripley studied her for what felt like an eternity, expression stern, jaw set tight, shoulders squared, and it took everything Vic had not to say something stupid, to not say something she’d regret, to not give away just how much the thought of one week without her job terrified her. But, as though a switch had been flicked, his shoulders slumped and his expression crumbled before he pinched the bridge of his nose, and when he looked back at her again, she was sure his eyes were just a little watery.

“You could have died,” he repeated in a whisper, voice shaking just a little, and she couldn’t help but close the distance between them, hands resting on his shoulders for a moment before cupping his jaw.

“But I didn’t,” she whispered back. “I didn’t, and eight people are alive because Andy and I went back in.”

He swallowed hard, letting his eyes fall shut, and she brushed her thumb across his lips lightly, a move that was somehow far more intimate than anything they had done so far.

“And if this was really about disobeying orders,” she added softly, leaning in just a little bit closer, face inches from his as she reached up on her toes, “then Andy would be here too, receiving the same dressing down as I am.”

Ripley huffed a laugh at that, and Vic felt her face burn as she let her hands fall to his shoulders again, lowering her gaze as he opened his eyes, soft and intense in ways that made her heart skip a beat, as it always did.

“Not… I don’t mean… God. No. I just mean…” she sucked in a deep breath, forcing herself to look at him. “This is about more than that.”

“You’re right,” he conceded quietly, cupping the back of her head as he leaned down, lips brushing hers for a moment before he pressed his forehead against hers.

“You’re allowed to say you care about me,” she said with a small laugh.

Ripley sighed in response, shaking his head minutely, but enough for her to feel it. “I couldn’t stand to lose you.”

The admission had that lump returning to her throat, her heart pounding wildly in her chest, both from fear and excitement, and before she could think about that for too long, before she could analyze exactly what that meant for them, she pressed her lips against his, chaste at first, but with a growing intensity as she threaded her fingers into the back of his hair.

And he kissed back in earnest, hungry and eager and more desperate than she had ever seen him before, and before she’d even thought it through, she was stopping him from unbuttoning her shirt, pulling back from his lips.

“Your place is close,” she said by way of explanation, hooking her finger into his belt loop, tugging as she took a step back.

It took him a moment, but all the tension Ripley seemed to be holding in his body disappeared, and he smiled, nodding before pulling her into another quick kiss.

“You go,” he said quietly, dropping his keys into her hand. “I’ll follow in a minute.”

Just as she reached the door, he added, “Don’t think you’re getting off without some kind of punishment,” and for a moment her stomach sank.

But then his lips pulled upward, a devilish grin taking over his face, and she found herself grinning back as she gripped the door handle.

“I’m counting on it.”


End file.
